Veloform offers methanol fuel cell "Bicy-Taxis"
Fuel Cell Works is reporting that Veloform has announced the release of a fuel cell-powered, three-wheeled bicycle called the City Cruiser II. You may recognize the familiar shape of the vehicles as Veloform is the maker of the Bicy-Taxis shown at New York's Ecofest a couple months ago.The City Cruiser II runs on a methanol EFOY fuel cell manufactured by SFC Smart Fuel Cell. Veloform says that the fuel cells not only power the motor, but also provide electricity for the vehicle's lights, radiator and communication equipment as well.
Veloform's website is a bit out of date as it fails to even mention that the City Cruiser II is fuel cell-powered vehicle, though, Fuel Cell Today is reporting the same news on the City Cruiser II as Fuel Cell Works.
Unfortunately, I don't have a thorough understanding of methanol-powered fuel cells, so maybe someone will be able to shed a bit of light on the situation. I do understand that methanol is much easier to contain and transport than pure hydrogen, however, don't methanol fuel cells emit carbon dioxide as well as water? The Fuel Cell Test and Evaluation Center says the equation for the overall cell reaction looks like this:
CH3OH + 3/2 O2 => CO2 + 2 H2O
What am I missing?
[Source: Fuel Cell Works]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bryan Seigneur 1:50AM (3/29/2009)
You're missing the fact that hydrogen comes from fossil fuels. It's removal from fossil fuels also releases carbon dioxide.
You're also missing the fact that methanol can be thought of as a carrier of hydrogen. Methanol can be produced from carbon dioxide (easily acquired from fossil fuel exhaust, maybe one day straight from the air) and hydrogen.
Methanol can also be made from *any* plant biomass, unlike ethanol.
This is why before the Bush administration's Hydrogen Initiative in 2003, everyone who put any thought into fuel cells in vehicles had been working on methanol fuel cells, or methanol-reformers attached to hydrogen fuel cells.
By the way, of course, hydrogen is currently only made from fossil fuels.
I think the Bush initiative was a feint, designed to put off things as long as possible, on behalf of the fossil fuel industry. I hate that it seems like everything that that administration did was wrong.
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